Mesereau's statement followed Monday's opening volley by Montgomery County, Pa., District Attorney Kevin Steele, who revealed the comedian paid almost $3.4 million in his 2006 settlement with Constand and argued that he wouldn't have paid out so much money if the accusations against him were false.

"The question that I'm sure we're going to hear a lot about is, why would an innocent man pay $3.38 million for something he didn't do?" said lawyer Dennis McAndrews, who prosecuted chemical heir John E. duPont for murder in 1997 and is not associated with the Cosby retrial.

Mesereau detailed several inconsistencies in Constand's report of the allegation like her contact with Cosby before and after the alleged incident.

Steele suggested in his opening remarks that the size of the payment indicated Cosby had something to hide after years of attacking other women in strikingly similar ways. According to the defence lawyer, Ms Constand replied: "No, but I can say I was". "When someone is drugged, they don't have the ability to consent".

At a pretrial hearing last month, Assistant District Attorney Stewart Ryan previewed how the prosecution might counter the defense's allegations that Constand was setting up Cosby.

The entertainer's supporters have tried the same tack to discredit Cosby accusers in the past.

"The main goal was to make Cosby uncomfortable, because that is exactly what he has been doing for decades to women", Rochelle later told reporters. On Rochelle's torso were the names of Cosby's accusers as well as "women's lives matter". She was later charged with disorderly conduct.

The Little Falls, N.J., resident appeared, billed as Nicole Leach, on four episodes of Cosby's eponymous sitcom, "The Cosby Show", between 1990 and 1992.

"Individuals find themselves feeling frozen, not knowing what to and feeling frightened", Dr. Barbara Ziv, a forensic psychiatrist, told jurors at Cosby's retrial as she described "rape myths" and the sometimes contradictory behavior of those who've survived a sexual assault.

Cosby's star then rose to iconic status when he took on the role of the sweater-loving physician father of the Huxtables, an upper middle-class African-American family, on "The Cosby Show". In the photo she is wearing a version of Cosby's iconic "Hello Friend" sweatshirt, with the word "Rapist" scrawled over it in marker.

In dismissing jurors who remained deadlocked a year ago after six days of deliberations, O'Neill told the panel, "Do not feel like you've let the justice system down".

The anticipated opening of Cosby's retrial in a Pennsylvania courthouse was delayed for several hours on Monday due to a potential issue with a juror.

Mesereau said that Cosby never admitted to wrongdoings and only agreed to a settlement to avoid a media frenzy that would have occurred with the civil case.

But her accusation is the only one to force him into a criminal trial. "That's one reason why so many do not go to police, because when you do you lose control over your narrative and your whole life can take a tailspin".

Even after the alleged assault in January 2004, Constand called Cosby as many as 60 times and visited his home alone, said Mesereau, who successfully defended Michael Jackson against child molestation charges. Because the 2007 offense is more than 10 years old, Cosby's lawyers must seek permission from the judge to include that evidence in the trial. Prosecutors declined to comment Monday.